with no help from the engineers at jpl. >> as far as the amount of control that the team has during entry, descent and landing, it's identical to the control that anybody watching at home has. we're all along for the ride. >> reporter: scientists can only watch at the last seven minutes of this ambitious mission determines the outcome says cbs news space analyst bill harwell. >> if is a success it will be one of the great scientific triumphs of the space-age and if it fails it could be a setback for interplanetary exploration. >> reporter: the mission is to several forevidence that mar once could support life, an exploration that is expected to last 2 years. >> jeff: what kind of tools and equipment does the rover have? >> well, it begins with the map there that has a number of cameras on it to capture detailed panoramic images of regard mars as you have never seen before. other than that it is he qiched to do what a human geologist would do on mars. pick up samples of rock and soil and then run them through an onboard laboratory to discover exactly what mars is made of. they're looking f